by David Leon Moore, USA TODAY Sports

by David Leon Moore, USA TODAY Sports

LOS ANGELES â?? The Los Angeles Lakers had stumbled and bumbled enough lately, and they really had to win Sunday night.

After all, had they lost, they would have had the same number of losses as those perennial losers, the Sacramento Kings, and twice as many losses as their upstart roomies down the hall, the L.A. Clippers.

Yet that's exactly what happened, the Lakers wasting a remarkable shooting effort from the three-point arc and, despite a late rally, falling to the Utah Jazz 117-110.

The loss dropped the Lakers to 9-12, 5Â½ games behind the 14-6 Clippers in the Pacific Division.

After the loss came more sobering news. Contrary to some speculation, Lakers point guard Steve Nash is unlikely to return to action at any point on the team's upcoming four-game road trip.

"I can't imagine that," Nash told USA TODAY Sports. "I would think it will be at least another two weeks. I'm not even running yet."

Nash has missed the last 19 games with a small fracture in his left leg, and Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni, who had so much success with Nash in Phoenix, has repeatedly said the team will improve dramatically when Nash returns.

But Nash, who has never been a strong defender, won't help the defense, and that's the biggest problem now, according to team leaders Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard.

"We've got to do a better job defensively," Bryant said. "Steve's a great offensive player, but we know that defense and rebounding wins championships around here."

"We've just got to help each other," Howard said. "You've got to help the helper. That's been the story every time we've lost."

D'Antoni, who expressed frustration before the game at the way the Lakers had been playing, wasn't any happier after watching the Jazz outscore the Lakers 54-34 in the paint and 19-4 on fast break points.

"There's no excuse for giving up 117 points, giving up 35- or 40-point quarters," he said. "There's no excuse for not running back on defense . . . I just don't think we've had a 'gut-check' moment yet. At some point we're going to draw a line in the sand and that's it, you have to fight."

The Lakers can be a mystifying bunch, and they worked themselves into another odd situation Sunday: with 8:30 left in the game, they had made 14 of 22 three-pointers and yet still trailed by 10 points. They finished 15 of 28 from the arc.

A number of problems have plagued the Lakers. They came into this one having lost three of their last four games, and some of the same issues they've been having surfaced against Utah.

Howard didn't get the ball much in the first half and when he did, he wasn't able to do much with it. He scored just four points on 2-of-5 from the floor. He finished with 11 points.

And, despite some hot shooting by some of the Lakers' bit players, Bryant forced a lot of tough shots and was just 3-of-10 in the first half, continuing a recent trend that has seen his shooting percentage steadily drop after an efficient, high-percentage start of the season. He continued to fire away in the second half, finishing with 34 points but missing 15 of 24 shots.

The Lakers had trouble all night matching up with forward Paul Millsap, who scored 24, and guard Mo Williams, who scored 22.

In addition to playing without Nash again, the Lakers were playing their fourth game in a row without forward Pau Gasol, who has been sitting out with knee tendinitis.

The Lakers open a four-game road trip Tuesday night at Cleveland.

"We have to stay patient, we have to stay together and we can't let nothing break us," Howard said.